by Martha Carr
Correk smiled. “You’re going to someday die as an old lady swearing and making a joke.”
“In my new vibrating recliner.”
“Classy. You’ve thought the whole death thing through. At least you kept the bar high. Don’t you somewhat humans want to die in bed surrounded by family?”
“Fucking vibrating recliner. Family can be there too. Hey, I’ll live so long imagine what else the chair might be able to do by then.”
“I’m getting out of this conversation before you tell me.”
“See? Turner was right, you do know more than you’re letting on.”
“Time will tell.”
Leira smiled but she looked at him a little longer. I wonder…
Her phone buzzed and she glanced down. There was a text from her grandmother to call her back. Sooner rather than later.
What’s Yumfuck done now? Leira answered her, typing, see you for Sunday dinner. The phone buzzed again in her hand before she could see the reply. The general was calling.
“Hello? Yes sir. Not a problem.” Leira listened, writing down numbers as the general spoke in rapid fire. Correk could hear bits and pieces that almost amount to shouting. There was no room to get much in till the general wound himself down.
“We’ll do our best. Okay, we’ll do better than that.” Leira hung up the phone with a grunt.
“Problem?”
“We need to get somewhere in a hurry.”
“Not a problem. We have a government jet waiting on us.”
“Still a problem. The general heard about a prized artifact in West Africa somewhere and all the sides are descending on it. The French have sent in their own people, along with Axiom, and a few unknown rogues.”
“He wants us to be the winners.”
“I see the issue. We have no time and half a world between us.” Leira licked her lips, considering the other alternatives. “We could…”
“No, we could not.” Correk said each word deliberately. “I know your idea. It’s a bad one.”
“You don’t know what I’m about to say…”
“Open a portal from here to there.”
“Wrong! I know the rule about opening portals to move around on Earth.”
Correk arched an eyebrow and looked at Leira suspiciously. “Then, let’s hear it. What do you have in mind? An ancient ritual Turner Underwood told you about? If you’re about to say anything about traveling there out of body…” His face instantly flushed with anger.
“Whoa! Cool your jets there, dude. I may run toward conflict but I have my limits! Okay, it’s to open a portal. Hear me out. Not from here to there but from here to Oriceran, and then to West Africa.”
Correk said nothing, just looking at her for a moment. “Okay, that’s not half bad.”
“Scaring you with the whole out of body thing helped, didn’t it? This sounds rather pedestrian. Two small portals and I have exact coordinates. Seven degrees 44'59.99" North by 1 degree 29'59.99" West. Leave now?”
“Did the general give you any more details?”
“I’ll tell you on the way. It’s mostly a lot of, everyone wants this stuff, they’re all armed, get there first and take it. Don’t get killed. Keep the magic to a minimum.”
“He talked for a long time. It seemed like there was more.” Correk started to form the ball of light as Leira held up her hand. “No, I’ll open it. You’ve done enough for one day.”
“Killjoy. That was all he said, in a nut shell except for the part about Oricerans vying for this trinket too.”
Correk looked up as the light grew, opening the portal.
“You had to know that Oricerans would get involved in this at some point.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Louie pressed his back against the large boulder, listening to the scientists climb over the monument, making a racket.
“No finesse for the job. Fucking anthill.” He leaned over to his side, looking out just far enough to get a look at their progress. His heart was pounding and he could feel the sweat trickling down his back. “How do humans do this?” He adjusted the knapsack slung across his chest and checked his watch. Two goddamn hours left. I was cutting it close already without all the interference.
He got a portal to the middle of Ghana, in West Africa opened with the help of his best friend, Zyno. He was a Wood Elf he knew from the Dark Market who was almost as good at scavenging as Louie. Almost. The price was steep, ten gold coins with half the money upfront and half on the return visit safely back to Oriceran. Zyno was always quick to point out that was the friends and family discount.
Louie jingled the gold coins left in the leather pouch hanging from his belt, along with a knife in its sheath and a magical compass that worked on both planets. On Earth the needle pointed true north and on Oriceran, eastward toward the strongest magical pull. One day, Louie was determined to find out if there was more to the story on both planets but for now, he had another treasure to hunt and only so much time to do it.
He didn’t open portals for himself anymore. Not after what happened in Montana near the Saskatchewan border years ago. Louie got tipped off about a prized ancient relic the humans dug up along with other less magical relics. None of the archaeologists realized what they had but Louie did. In his excitement, he fumbled the light ball when making the opening. He stepped through without paying enough attention, already looking out toward the frozen horizon as he felt his leg slip into a crease, pushing against a thick, gelatinous air. He felt the immense, pressurized tug as the world in between did its best to suck him the rest of the way into its grasp.
A mild current of panic immediately set in but he was used to having to save himself in close quarters and some part of his brain kicked into calm survival mode. He looked down and saw the carabiner he always rigged to himself, just in case and reached out, hooking himself to a system of pulleys the researchers had set up for the dig into the deep hole. He hung on and pulled with everything he had, inch by inch till his leg was free.
Dumb luck, that’s all it was that saved me that day. The whole thing still turned his stomach. Louie took a lot of chances all the time but only because he planned so well. He shivered in the hot African sun. Rather die. He shook his hands, getting rid of the bad mojo. Doesn’t help on jobs like these. Besides, problem solved. Best friend opens the portal, I sleep at night. Zyno offered an even bigger discount if he could come along, getting a laugh out of Louie as he stepped through the portal.
“Nice to know you’d still charge me.”
Zyno had shrugged. “Keeps us honest. Well, our version of honest anyway. Be back on time. I run a tight business.”
Louie smiled at the memory. Damn asshole of a best friend. Best kind. He rolled over and looked again, counting the number of people moving about the opening to the dig. Miners from a local village digging for gold on their own had come across a cache of ancient artifacts when one of them fell through the bottom of a passage and into what they thought was an old burial site filled with artifacts and a few dead bodies. The miners knew the find was valuable to someone but they were more interested in the gold. Still, just selling the location of the artifacts might be worth something. Pictures of the artifacts appeared online in a bidding war. Somehow word spread… all the way to Louie.
He surveyed the local terrain, wondering if there was time to cross over to the northern side and cut back from behind, finding another way into the mine shaft. Might just make it.
He set out, sliding down a large dune, tracking his way west to make a curving arc back to the dig from behind. The sun beat down on his head, covered by a white cotton cloth, tied down by a thin rope around his forehead. He was a hundred yards from the dig, muttering to himself about the heat and the sand in his shoes when he heard a commotion and gunfire. He did his best to run through the sand, bogging down with each step, sand pouring into his boots. He finally gave up, pulling out his wand and casting a spell, hardening the sand temporarily as he took off at a run.
> Louie crested the far end of the tall dune where he was hiding before and saw a flash of bright purple light, ducking in time as a fireball went flying by him, crashing in the sand far behind him. Warning shot. Not aimed at me or it would have found me.
He blinked his eyes, trying to get the sparkling flashes of light to go away so he could focus. “Come on, come one, come on.” He shook his head, getting down low and moving forward. No time to hang back now.
His eyes adjusted and he finally saw the locals scattering away from the dig, leaving only a handful to earn their measly paycheck and stand their ground to protect the artifacts. The corporate hired hands were lined up behind the locals, their fingers on triggers even as they were doing their best to duck down lower.
“Not guns for hire. Good to know. Fireball seems to have scared them. Hey, I know them!” Louie stood up straighter as he spotted Leira and Correk, their arms covered in fiery symbols as Leira unfurled another fireball sending it over the heads of the opposition, singeing the tops of their heads and leaving an acrid smell hanging in the air. Louie heard the whistle of the fireball as it sped off, further into the desert and landed in the sand. “Smart. No way those goons know fireballs magically seek out their intended target. She’s aiming to scare. I like it.”
The men weren’t completely backing down, holding their position in front of the dig. Louie saw his chance and half ran, half slid down the other side of the dune, coming around the far right side of the dig behind the humans. A few of the locals running away passed him as he got closer to the mine. He slid in next to the armed gunmen, smiling at a beefy man with a shaved head. “Hey, how you doing? Modern warfare. A bitch, am I right?”
The man stared at him, looking down at his gun as if he was wondering where to point it. Louie patted him on the back like they were old friends, and scrambled toward the entrance of the mine, throwing himself in, feet first. He grabbed onto a rope dangling down the center and shimmied down further, wielding his wand as he went, lighting his way. He glanced down at his watch. One hour to go. Move it!
He landed hard on the floor of the shaft, and felt the jar in the side of his ribs, still sore from his adventure capturing the sword. He moved his wand around the tight cavern and found three narrow tunnels all going in different directions. “Eeny meeny miney mo. That one it is.” He crawled head first into the tunnel, bent over and moving as fast as he could, his wand held out in front of him to illuminate the darkness.
He came to a larger opening and found abandoned pick axes and buckets. No artifacts.
“Fuck!” He turned around and scrambled, dirt falling on his head as he made his way back to the main entrance. He pressed his lips together to keep out as much dirt as possible, squinting his eyes as he fell out of the passageway, back into the larger room.
“I guess it was miney.”
He crouched down as he did his best to run, banging his head on a rock as he went, finally coming to a wider room. Nothing.
“Son of a bitch! What is with my luck today?” He felt the top of his head where a lump was already forming.
He made his way back, listening for anyone else coming down in the mine as the dirt clung to the sweat all over his body. “Last hole.”
It was even narrower and not shored up yet. In one place he had to get down on his belly and pull his way through for a few yards, snaking his way to the right. At last he got to the chamber and held the wand out, immediately getting a twinkle reflecting back at him. He smiled in the inky darkness, dirt covering his face as he looked at the crowded room.
“All of it interesting, not all of it magical.” Quickly, he ran his hand over each object searching for the one that would give him a jolt back. His finger caught on something sharp as he recoiled from the pain, licking his finger and getting a mouthful of dirt and sweat. “No time,” he muttered as he put his wand in the other hand and kept searching, flipping over embellished metal plates and carved wooden boxes. “You’re in here somewhere.”
He reached for a platter as his hand brushed against something in the shadows, jolting his hand up into the air with a loud sizzle.
“Aha! Come to Daddy.” He put out his hand cautiously and took a deep breath as he made contact with the object. His hand vibrated making a hollow thumping noise against something. He held on, gently pulling out the artifact and held it up, shining the light from the tip of his wand on it.
“A drum, okay. I suppose that makes sense.” He could feel the hum of the energy, recognizing light from dark. “Not dark magic. First good win today. I’ll take it! Now, how do I get this mother out of here. He turned around, holding on to the vibrating drum, his teeth shaking and pushed it into the hole, climbing in after it. It barely fit. He gently shoved as he crawled, still listening for anyone coming in to join him. As he got to the main room, finally holding the drum to his chest, feeling the vibration go straight through him, he saw faces of the humans appearing at the top of the hole.
“Hey there! How’s it going?”
A gun appeared over the edge as Louie stepped back into the shadows, dousing the wand. “Fuck me,” he said through clenched teeth. “One thing I don’t like doing…” There was no time left to meet Zyno and no easy way out of the hole. He could tell from the vibration the artifact was a valuable one. He wasn’t giving it up. “Probably kill me anyway out of spite, sons of bitches.”
He put the drum down in front of him and formed a light ball, whispering a spell into it as it slowly grew larger, opening a portal. Louie’s face was strained as he wiped the sweat from his face, leaving a streak of dirt. He looked through the portal at the sandy beach near the ocean and could see the floating city of Rodania far off in the sky. “Zyno is gonna be pissed he didn’t get the second half of his money.”
He looked around at the edges of the portal, making sure as he cautiously stepped through, just as Leira and Correk lowered themselves into the chamber.
“Louie!” Leira jumped the rest of the way, rolling toward the portal. There wasn’t enough time to draw up magic and be sure she could keep it to low levels. Should go with good old-fashioned police training.
Louie looked up as he leaned over and grabbed the drum, dragging it into Oriceran. “Our side won? Good for you! Nice to see you again, Leira. What’s his name, nice to see you too,” he said, waving at Correk, as the portal started to close. Correk lunged at the opening to grab the drum just as the portal closed, completely filling the room with sparks, temporarily lighting the chamber throwing shadows on the walls.
Leira shook her head. “He’s starting to get on my nerves.”
“Starting?” Correk looked around. “This must be thousands of years old. I’ll bet someone put the artifact here just as the gates closed the last time.”
“Did you recognize where he exited?”
“That was seaside near the Land of Terran. I’m guessing he didn’t mean to go that far north but was grateful for the port in the storm.”
“I’ll break the news to the general once we’re back in Austin. We don’t follow Lucky Louie just yet. That could take days and we have another problem to deal with.”
“The hybrid bugs.”
“That’s one way of describing them. Come on, can you get us out of this place before the people above regroup and just shoot down into this place? This place is rank.”
“Way ahead of you.” Correk formed a ball of light, letting it grow as he sang into it and a portal opened into the forests of Oriceran. Leira and Correk stepped through as they heard the rumble of heavy machinery overhead.
“They brought a lot of back up. Boy, are they going to be disappointed.” Leira breathed in the cooler air and stood still for a moment as the breeze rifled her hair. “Much better.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“I want to make a stop before we head back to Earth. I think we need more information and while we’re here…” A trail of tiny grey mice skittered by Correk’s foot, sliding down into a hole.
“You want to see
Perrom? Nana told me all about him when I was laid up with a broken leg. It’s a good idea.”
Correk brushed aside large leaves stretching three feet across, holding them back for Leira as they made their way to the edge of the forest. “I haven’t asked you about what it was like for you.” He looked back at Leira who gave him her dead fish look. “So, not a talk about our feelings day.”
“I’m kind of full up on that for now. It was alright. The cast itched and I didn’t like laying still. Mom may say I was more of a pain in the ass than I think I was. Estelle was great.” Leira ran a few steps ahead of Correk, wanting to stretch her legs. Just the memory of being broken… “She brought me food and beer and played cards with me. Mom tried to shoo her away a few times because of the cigarette smoke. You know, I’ve never seen her without one in her mouth. I’m not sure I’ve even seen her light one. You wonder how she sleeps at night.”
“I wonder how she breathes.”
“Her super power. It didn’t work anyway. Estelle doesn’t really take orders from anyone and there were a few years there where she was the only kind of mom I knew. Estelle doesn’t really share well either.” Leira slowed down to watch a large elephant move through the forest followed by a small baby. The elephant lifted his trunk and let out a blare.
“You don’t see that every day,” she whispered.
“The Gardener of the Dark Forest must be rescuing more animals these days. He has herds of different kinds of animals safely tucked away in this vast forest.”
“And no one hunts them?”
“Some have tried, all have failed. Some never returned. There’s stories of magical beings turning to stone statues, I don’t know.”
“That’s intense.” Leira watched the tall grasses sway toward them as they talked, gently rolling in the other direction as a high-pitched trumpet from the baby elephant sounded in the distance.
“There are stories about the Gardener but most believe he doesn’t really exist. Of course, most would never set foot too far inside the Dark Forest. There are plenty of creatures born on Oriceran that can tear you apart or poison you in a hundred different ways or turn you inside out even.”
